The First Million: Cameron Johnson

Business Idea: An array of online enterprises, from advertising to gift certificates

Back in 1994, at the ripe old age of 9, Johnson launched his first business out of his home in Virginia--making invitations for his parents' holiday party. Word of his skills spread, and by the seasoned age of 11, Johnson had saved up several thousand dollars selling greeting cards. He called his company Cheers and Tears.

But the little guy didn't stop there. At age 12, Johnson offered his younger sister $100 for her collection of 30 Ty Beanie Babies, all the rage at the time. The young entrepreneur quickly earned 10 times that amount by selling the dolls on
eBay
. Smelling potential, he contacted Ty and began purchasing the dolls at wholesale with the aim of selling them on eBay and on his Cheers and Tears Web site.

In less than a year, Johnson banked $50,000--seed money for his next venture, My EZ Mail, a service that forwards e-mails to a particular account without revealing the recipient's personal information. He hired a programmer to flesh out his idea, and within two years My EZ Mail was generating up to $3,000 per month in advertising revenue.

Johnson still wasn't done. In 1997, he joined forces with two other teen entrepreneurs to create an online advertising company called Surfingprizes.com, which provided scrolling advertisements across the top of users' Web browsers. Those who downloaded the software received 20 cents per hour (a tiny fraction of the value to the advertiser) for the inconvenience of having ads splay across their computer screens.

The boys employed a classic pyramid strategy to spread the service: Users who managed to refer Surfingprizes.com to a new customer would nab 10% of that new person's hourly revenue.

But Johnson and company didn't just want to sell software--they wanted a piece of that juicy ad revenue too. Their solution: partnering with such companies as DoubleClick, L90 and Advertising.com, which could sell the ads for them. Under the agreements, these middlemen would collect 30% of any ad revenue sold, while the three boys split the remaining 70% (less those referral fees).

"I was 15 years old and receiving checks between $300,000 and $400,000 per month," says Johnson. At 19, he sold the company name and software (but not the customer database) to an undisclosed buyer. Says Johnson, "Before my high school graduation, my combined assets were worth more than $1 million."

After spending less than one semester as a freshman at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Johnson caught the business bug again. With a pile of unwanted gift certificates, he and friend Nat Turner launched a business called Certificateswap.com. Their strategy: lower prices. While gift certificates routinely changed hands on eBay, the auctioneer charged a healthy fee--"up to 13% of the cards' value," says Johnson. "We took only 7.5%." Johnson and Turner sold CertificateSwap.com in 2004, when Johnson was just 19, for an undisclosed "six-figure" amount.

Now just 24, Johnson spends his time lecturing on entrepreneurship and making television appearances as a finalist on ABC's Oprah's Big Give and as the host of BBC's Beat The Boss. He'll also be serving as a business expert on a new Animal Planet series beginning in May. "Put yourself out there," he advises. "Don't be afraid of rejection. Don't be afraid to ask anything."